Kelsey's word of the day

The other day when Macy was at school and Braden was down for a nap, Kelsey and I played her favorite game. She called it "Remembory". She usually calls the game "My Little Pony Matching Game".

The Good Things in Life and the Ironic Ones

The Good Things:

• Lots of homemade raspberry freezer jam made with fresh Bear Lake raspberries. One batch with my secret ingredient.
• Death by Chocolate cake for Grandma K's 90th birthday party last night.
• 2 helpers in the kitchen to help make the items above. One likes to add a little chef drama/acting as she stirs and mixes. The down side to this is there is usually some mess that is created like pectin being spilled on the hot burner.
• Homemade salsa made with garden fresh ingredients. I wish they were from my garden, but alas they came from the crop sharing thing I did this summer. This was really my first time making salsa and it sure took a long time.

The Ironic Part of Life:

• Tragedy always strikes while on the toilet and usually right before getting in the shower. A toy needs to be fixed, someone was mean to someone else, starvation hits even though it has only been five minutes since the last course. Good thing the earthquakes and fires have decided to hold off. Maybe they could teach my kids something.
• Brian caught a nasty flu bug and he hasn't even seen the kids all week. He has been working late hours on a major project at work all week long. I am crossing my fingers, following him with lysol and praying the kids don't catch it. School starts tomorrow. There will be plenty of germs there. We don't need to add ours to the mix. I am also praying because this momma doesn't want to be cleaning anything up.

Another Hand Mixer Bites the Dust (plus some summer stuff)

So I am now down another hand mixer. I burned it out the other day. What is with the cheap kitchen appliances? Okay I have to admit there is some doubt whether it was the machine or the user. I might not have gotten the beaters put in all the way on some thick batter. But in my defense it had recently seemed to be slowing a bit. Also I may have installed everything correctly that last time. I just don't remember.

I am also out another camera. Cameras and sunglasses fall into the same category for us. We can't afford to buy the really expensive kinds because within a matter of months they are lost, broken or dropped. This may be the third or fourth camera we have owned. Last year in Disneyland Brian dropped the camera while it was on and jammed the lense. Well butterfingers did it again but this time at Bear Lake. All right he was handing it to me and there seems to be a fuzzy point in the story, again (just like with the mixer), where the camera dropped. And I just remembered I lost my sunglasses at Cherry Hill. I purchased those in June.

So needless to say I have no proof that we did exciting things during the end of summer and were not just couch potatoes. Well, we did do some of the that. The kids for sure did some of this at Bear Lake when they had an ICarly marathon with some cousins once removed or however those titles go. It isn't my favorite show to let the girls watch but it was awfully quiet and enjoyable when they were glued to the TV. It allowed for a lot of train playing (Ticket to Ride).

I tried to wear the kids out with the fantastic trip to Bear Lake. But Macy could not get enough tubing in so obviously she was not worn out. Brian and I hiked to Bloomington Lake while there and we stopped by the Oregon Trail Museum. Still the kids kept going.

So we did some swimming at my grandma's condo's pool. I love that pool. They keep it at around 88 degrees. Still not tired. Instead the kids started growing gills. So I gave them more water. We spent 3 whole days at Cherry Hill with my family. The kids only came up to breath when it was time to eat and when the big bad mom said it was time to go to bed. Kelsey spent hours in the lazy river (ask my mom about that). Macy could not get enough of the rapids ride and loved being a big kid. She never wanted to hang out with me unless there was no one else to ride with. And Braden mixed his time between the lazy river, Pirates Cove (the little kids area) and the pool. He also enjoyed closing the pool down with a pooping incident. Don't ask. It was embarrassing especially when you do not realize it was your kid.

There have grandma sleepovers and great grandma's birthday parties. The party was even complete with big blow up water slides and bounce houses. There have been some Scales and Tails visits. The semi-annual visit to the dentist. This time there was success. Kelsey actually opened her month and let them clean her teeth. Macy also started piano. Maybe one day I will have the energy to describe the joy (dripping with sarcasm) of helping her practice. We have gone back to school shopping (hurray!). And tonight Macy gets to meet her teacher. I am still trying to figure out how to take first day of school pictures without a camera. I am not great at pictures but it is Kelsey's first day of elementary school in a week.

For me I am trying to get the motivation back to wake up early in the morning to exercise before I have to get kids up for school. I am also lacking in general motivation to get my to-do list done. It has grown considerably while we were out having fun. Even blogging was better than accomplishing anything this morning.

From the Mouth of Braden

Dad: "Who's da man?" (hoping it is dad)
Braden: "Jesus"

Braden: (running into the girls room with a shirt and diaper on) "Hey guys, I'm naked."
Don't worry he loves to say this when he has even less on too.

Braden: "Slug bug blue one, I got that."
Kelsey: "No I got that one."
Braden (the parrot): "No I got that one."
Kelsey: "No I got that one."
Braden: "No I got that one."
Kelsey: "I got it."
Braden: "I got it."
Kelsey: (in tears now) "I got it."
Mom: "Kelsey, Braden is just copying everything you say. It is how he learns to talk and communicate. Just stop saying anything and know that you got it."
Kelsey: "Braden, I got that one."
Braden (still the parrot): "I got that one."

I call the game up above "Let's annoy mom in the car" game. I am now really sorry I put my parents through this game. After five minutes in the car I am ready to pull my hair out. The worst part is there are no clear rules except the Queen of Hearts knows all the rules (aka Macy). This means Kelsey will end up crying every trip.
Here are some of the rules that I believe I have picked up on before I start to shout and tell them they are playing the game separately.

1. They have no added "bingo" to the beginning.
2. You must shout.
3. There isn't just slug bugs anymore. They have added other types of cars such as: tahoes, suburbans (unless you are Braden then it is a burbon), Stef's car, buses, dad's car and jeep's.
4. You must also say whether it has a top or not (a convertible) and the color.
5. You must end with "I got that".
6. You must include everything to get a point. For example: "Bingo, jeep, black one, top on, I got that." 
7. I believe if you finish saying everything at the same time then you have to share points.
8. If you forget a part then Macy gets the point.
9. Macy will always get 2 points to Kelsey's 1 point. She will always win.

At least no one has told them about the slugging part. If anyone does, you better watch your back.

Braden has peed four times in the toilet. This has nothing to do with talking but I wanted others to share in the celebration. But alas, this mother is not ready for toilet training a two year old that still can't pull down or pull up his own pants. So I will let it be and encourage him when he wants to sit on the toilet himself. I have my fingers crossed he will be like his sisters and one day he will magically be potty trained.

Another note about Braden. He is for sure two and very much like Macy. He is stubborn and independent. There are fits about doing it himself in nearly every aspect of life. I pray for patience.

A Piece of Advice

Just in case you were wondering, I did find that missing sock. My still stands at 1.000. Do you want to know where it was? Someone mysteriously put it in the whites. I blamed the owner and the owner blamed Braden. Who knows and who cares.
Again we have been busy doing summer things like swimming lessons, trips to the pool, one glorious boating trip (hopefully more to come), two hikes with the yahoos, a visit with AZ/BYU friends, a preschool reunion party (Ms. Patti is such and amazing teacher) and Fourth of July celebrations that included a little parade and some wonderful fireworks. Oh yes and one over due library book that I found today that I had no idea we still had. I am sure that is not all we did but I don't want to be boring. It has been the good life. The girls have even remembered how to play with one another. If I am not around they play for hours. If I am in ear shot then there is screaming and crying from Kelsey every five minutes. But Macy is not the only culprit. Kelsey likes to make things known through her lungs and Macy keeps it under her breath with a little pinch or squeeze.

So after all this I have one piece of advice. Walking to the grocery with your kids is a great way to incorporate physical activity into everyday living. However, going to the grocery store to get a watermelon because you think it will fit under the stroller is not a smart idea. Mainly because it won't fit under the stroller like you envisioned which means you will be caring the watermelon in your jumbo reusable Costco bag you luckily grabbed for the other few items you picked up. I at least grabbed the bag with the big long straps so I could at least carry it on my shoulder leaving red marks that lasted a couple of days. My advice use the car to get the watermelon.

The only way to hike to Donut falls, as long as you are on top.

The closest we could get to Donut falls because of all the water this year.

Yo, Peace out. Which is what we said when we tried to hike to Lake Mary on July 2! There was too much snow for the kids to make it.

Where, Oh, Where has My Veggie Peeler Gone

So I pride myself on the fact that my washing machine doesn't eat socks. If it does it eats them in pairs. Oh what, I just lost one but I don't count that yet because I really haven't taken the time to look for it. Maybe tomorrow I will remember to take a peak in the dryer. But that is not the topic of this post.

Right now I have to ask, who snags a vegetable peeler? I have looked in every drawer, cupboard, pantry and even the fridge. There is no sign, no clue. I understand how socks disappear because they go everywhere. They go on vacations, to school, to parks, through puddles, etc. But a vegetable peeler only works in the kitchen. Seriously, where would it have gone. It was such a nice instrument especially compared to my two previous, really cheap ones. I am at a loss. So it is off to the store to buy a replacement. Sniffle, sniffle :(

Thinking of cheap, anyone else notice how cheaply made small appliances are made these days. I have been through 3 hand mixers, 2 toasters and 1 blender. That is ridiculous. I remember my mom's blender from working forever. In fact, it would probably still be use if the jar part hadn't broken. It was so old she didn't feel it worth scouring the country for a replacement.

Dance Recital

Last weekend was the girls dance recital. I did much better than last year. No embarassing mom moments for me and I really enjoyed the show. The older girls at this studio did a really good job and it was fun to watch their talent. I can't say that I wasn't a bizerko mom. I never danced and my talent does not lie in make-up and hair dos so the stress of trying to do precisely as I am asked and get the girls to a location on time does not bode well for me. I got a tiny bit stressed. Oh well. At least there was improvement from last year. I remembered everything including make-up and flowers (those were two of the things I messed up on last year).

Macy and Kelsey did fantastic too. Kelsey smiled the whole time on stage. After dress rehearsal Kelsey ran to me and said it was so much fun. She told me she got to go on the real stage and now she wants to do dance next year. (As if I wasn't watching the rehearsal.) Then she asked if was going to get flowers after the real performance.  Macy says she is done with dance. It is softball and soccer for her next year (that is what I overheard her telling a little dance friend during rehearsal).